• History

• Ecclesiastical Division

• Key Variables

• 19th Century Ecclesiastical Registers

• List of Key Variables

The oldest baptismal registers usually contain only the baptism date, which according to the law must take place within a week after birth, but by the 18th century it had already become common practice to enter the date of birth as well. Many older baptismal registers provide only the father's name, as there would have been no time for the mother's "churching" (post-natal purification), and therefore she would have been unable to attend the baptismal service. When a child was born out of wedlock, only the mother's name was recorded. Details of godparents and other witnesses to the baptism were also noted. Later on the records also came to include the mother's age at the birth, and still later the father's age and a number of other details.

Register of banns and marriages   A register of banns and marriages contains information, recorded in the - bride's home parish, on the names and ages of the couple, and the date of the marriage. If the bridegroom was from another parish, that was also noted. In addition the name of the bride's guardian was recorded - usually her father or brother. The guardian was a figure of some significance, as right up until 1863 an unmarried woman was considered unfit to manage her own affairs.

Originally there were only marriage registers, but later additional information concerning the publication of the banns was also recorded. These details were frequently entered in the marriage register, which came to be known as the register of banns and marriages.

Register of deaths and burials  A register of deaths and burials contains the name of the deceased, his/her - place of residence, date of burial, and later on also the date of death. Information about the dead person's age and occupation was also noted. The age stated is not always correct according to the information in the register of births, and it is likely that the entries in the two registers were not compared for accuracy.

Migration lists  As early as 1686 it was decreed that records should be kept of when people moved to another place, but it was not until after the start of the 19th century that general records were begun. For many parishes it is difficult to obtain information for an earlier period on this topic. In the migration lists can be found the names of people who moved into or out of a parish, their destination or previous address, and which residence in the parish was concerned. There are sometimes also notes concerning marks, character, and marriage ability. Details of moves to and from the parish had to be made separately, even if, as often happened, they were entered in the same volume.

In many parishes, changes of address were noted in the catechetical register at the same time as the more official record of moves was introduced. In some places the pastor would record the move in the catechetical list at the same time as he wrote out or was given the change-of-address certificate.

Change-of-address certificates  The change-of-address certificate helped the clergy to keep a check on everyone who moved, but it was also a means of combating tax evasion and vagrancy; additionally, it enabled the authorities to ascertain that everyone had an occupation and thereby "the protection of the law". The certificate provided the following information concerning a person who moved: name, age, place of birth, occupation, conduct, vaccination and religious knowledge. People often took their certificates with them the next time they moved. Details from the previous place of residence would be added to the current information, and thus a whole life-history could be written on these official papers.

The change-of-address certificates were a means of controlling the lowest social classes. Not until the start of the 19th century did they become compulsory for people higher up the social scale, and it is from this point onwards that they have been fairly extensively preserved. Their use was discontinued in 1947.

Catechetical lists  It was the duty of the parson to record in the catechetical lists details of parishioners' church attendance and knowledge of the scriptures. The term used for the lists originated in the fact that they were made in connection with catechetical meetings. Once a year all adults had to take part in such a meeting where the parson tested their knowledge of Christian teachings and their reading ability; in addition they were required to attend Communion at least once a year. Records of their performance in all these fields were made in the catechetical lists, and the same occasion was used for checking the parish population figures.

Children were not always included in the records; children under fifteen were not required to attend Communion, and they did not have to be tested on the Catechism if they could not read. The gentry were also excused, as they were considered to be above the need for testing. They were often personal friends of the parson, who considered himself able to report on their religious knowledge and reading ability without questioning them.

The lists are arranged according to district, village and farmstead, and in the towns by district, block and building. People were recorded in family groups in the villages and farms where they belonged. The father's name headed the list, followed by those of the mother and children. A space was often left between the two parents' names, so that if one of them died there would be room to write a new name in the event of remarriage. People living on the farmstead were also included in the list - relatives and servants, for instance. Soldiers, lodgers, crofters and cotters were often listed on special pages under their own heading, but occasionally they might be included as occupants of the farm where they lived and worked.

As well as name and dwelling-place, there are also details of when and where each person was born, and the earliest books often give people's ages at the time when the list was made. The oldest books also provide information about Communion attendance, and grades for the various elements tested. These grades usually consisted of widely-diverging personal codes used by individual parsons, but they could also be uniform over a whole area - a diocese, for example. Sometimes a key to the code would be included in the records, but often such keys are missing.

Gradually more and more information was included in the lists, and it was the records of knowledge and ability that had to make way for the new details. Increasingly, columns were introduced that had nothing to do with Communion and testing, so that in 1894 the books were redesignated parish registers. The fresher details concerned marriages, the break-up of marriages, changes of address, deaths, and vaccinations; there was also a special column for the parson to write in his highly personal comments on parishioners. Catechetical registers are usually provided with a place-list and sometimes also a name-list to facilitate their use.

In fast-growing parishes it was sometimes extremely difficult to record the required information. The catechetical list intended for a particular place was not big enough, and the parson would have to put someone on to a different page or squeeze several families on to one page. Sometimes it can be hard for a researcher to attribute people to the right families. The problems were especially severe in the city of Stockholm, where the so-called district registrar system had to be introduced at an early date.

A catechetical list was usually drawn up after 5-10 years. In northern Sweden (Norrland) the list frequently covered ten years or more, while in central Sweden a new one would often be made after only five years. In the most southern part of Sweden (Skåne), there seem to have been new lists every year, and when a fresh one was started the old one was often thrown away, so there are very few catechetical lists for parishes in southern Sweden before the start of the 19th century. For the rest of the country, records have on the whole been fairly well preserved right from the time when the registers began to be made.